p2pnet - rss feed: Textbook Torrents vs The Publishers
p2pnet news view | P2P:- Geekman, “runs a directory of online books called Textbook Torrents,” says Wired Campus.
The Chronicle first wrote about the site in July and ever since, “publishers have taken steps to enforce their copyrights and keep the site from encouraging the trading of their books,” says the story.
In the interim, “A representative from a publisher contacted the Internet service hosting the Textbook Torrents site and demanded its removal for violating copyright law, and in response the hosting company shut down the site, said Geekman, in an e-mail interview,” states Wired Campus.
But, ” Textbook Torrents was back online a few days later, on a different Web-hosting company, and Geekman posted a taunting message on the Web site that he couldn’t be stopped that easily,” says the story, going on »»»
The site is only one of many similar Web sites promising free books for download—making the owners of the sites some income from Web advertisements sold there. But Textbook Torrents is clearly in publishers’ crosshairs.Peter Anaman, senior Internet investigations manager for Covington & Burling, which has been hired by the Association of American Publishers to look for book piracy, said the investigators had tracked the origin of the site and were taking action. “I don’t think he will last very long,” said Mr. Anaman about Geekman. “He’s probably not going to last more than 48-hours.”
And soon after, the site was taken down again.
But Geekman put it back up somewhere else. And in recent days, the latest company hosting the Textbook Torrent Web site, which is located in Amsterdam, removed most of the site (the discussion forums on the site remain active).
“The resounding success of the site speaks volumes about the validity of our opinions, something which the publishers would do well to heed,” said Geekman, an e-mail interview today. “Of course, their reaction will be the predictable brute-force approach which completely fails to get the point. We plan to be around for longer than 48 hours.”
He said the whole site will be back online by the end of the week. “We’re currently making preparations for a more permanent setup,” he said.
Meanwhile, there are more signs that students are looking online for free pirated copies of books. And some publishers report fewer sales of new books this year.
The site was down when p2pnet went for a look a couple of hours ago. It promised to be back “within the hour,” but at 8:55 Pacific, still nada.
Stay tuned.
Wired Campus - A Cat-and-Mouse Tale of Textbook Piracy Continues, September 4, 2008
The Chronicle - Textbook Piracy Grows Online, Prompting a Counterattack From Publishers, July 1, 2008
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September 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
He needs to set up a host at Antigua. Since Antigua has won the right to violate copyright with impunity by the WTO such items as DMCA can not be enforced there.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
My Algorithms teacher recounted how in his college days he would pay $85 for his books. All of his books. For the entire year. The price of a single new edition of a textbook used for only one semester now exceeds that $85, and the “new edition” would only be typo corrections and chapter rearrangement.
The cost of paper and printing has not inflated that much. However, the price (and profit) have. The Oil Market has nothing on the Publishing and Printing Markets.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Interesting timing. I was actually looking for two books yesterday. Not so much because my plan was to pirate them by downloading, but because I incorrectly assumed they would be available in PDF form somewhere on the internet. These are the CFSC and CRFSC student handbooks. One would think, considering the topic and it’s imminent importance in regards to safety, that they would be freely available to anyone planning to apply for a Possession & Acquisition License (PAL). Turns out they cost $15 each (one place listed them as $40 each) plus shipping costs. Granted that’s not too expensive mind you, but why do they even bother in the first place I wonder? I’m also surprised that no one seems to have taken it upon themselves to upload a torrent of them anywhere yet as well. It’s not like you really need them past the day and a half courses they’re generally used with, seeing as once you’ve passed your CFSC & CRFSC exams you’re set for life. Very odd indeed.
September 6th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Given that 90% of the internet seems dedicated to porn, music, pirate episodes of Friends, hilarious viral videos and self-absorbed blogs, i feel that the copying and distribution of textbooks is one of the loftier, more positive, progressive, uses for the massive global communications infrastructure we’ve developed. And, in light of the fact that the textbook industry has become a huge scam with ridiculous fees, kickbacks, and bribes, i see a great deal of synergy in this - free knowledge for anyone that wants it, and a decreased profit margin for people that i feel are frankly, not awesome human beings.